blue pants, white shirt and stove-pipe
hat, given him no doubt by some passenger or captain of a merchantman.
He gravely saluted all on deck as he passed his bare feet over the
bulwarks and turning to the captain said in the peculiar dialect of the
Jamaica negro:

"Does yo want er pilot, sah?"

"No," responded the captain, "Oi know this coast well enough, but Oi
think ye had bother hoist that craft av yure's on boord an' come wid
us into Port Royal. There is signs av a cyclone if Oi'm not mishtaken;"
an invitation which the pilot gladly accepted. His outlandish attire
and quaint English greatly amused Paul, who after supper, sat beside him
on the deck and plied him with questions about Jamaica. The pilot told
him many interesting tales, among them one of a famous shark known as
"Port Royal Tom" who was supposed to inhabit the waters of
Kingston's beautiful bay. "Tom, sah, was a pow'ful shahk, 'bout thirty
feet long; but nobody know how ole he was. In de ol'en times big fleets
ob English men-ob-war use to anchoh off Port Royal, an' dat shahk got
fat on de refuse dat was frown ovahboahd. Sometimes de sailors would
heah de yallow gals laughin' an' dancin' on de shoah at night an' dey
longed fur to jine dem. Dey wasn't 'lowed to go of'en in dose days
'cause de yallow fevah was dere; but when de sailor boys got a chance
dey would slip sof'ly down de side an' strike out fur de shoah. Tom, he
know dis custom, an' he kep sharp eye on de boys, an' I 'shure yo'
sah, dat dat shahk gobbled up moah seamen dan 'uld fill de bigges' ob de
Queen's men-ob-wah. As lots ob de sailors went ashoah fur 'sertion as
well as fur 'musement, de navay people winked dere lef' eye at de tricks
ob ole Tom. After a while de sailors got to belibe dat he wah under de
pay ob de gove'ment, an' many a red-hot cannon ball ware sec'etly
dropped ober de side to Tom, yafter firs' temptin' him wid nice
pieces ob salt junk. I nab neber seen ole Tom myself, sah, but dey say
dat he is 'round heah yet. Lucinda Nelson, de great fortune tellah
an hoodoo 'oman done tole me dat Tom's now livin' in a big ware-house
down in ole Jamaica an' dat he sel'om comes out 'cause he's getting'
quite ole. Ole Jamaica, yo' mus' remembah, sah, is fifteen fathom below
de ocean now. Great earthquake come up one night an' swallowed de
whole town an only a few yeahs ago, when de watah was right cleah, yo'
could see de tops ob some ob de houses